Fire in the Aude: 850 hectares traveled and power cuts to Portugal

A fire, which had already traversed Saturday evening some 850 hectares of vegetation in the mountain of Alaric, in the Aude, led to power cuts in France, Spain and Portugal, we learned from corroborating sources . The Spanish and Portuguese electricity networks have been affected. "The Iberian Peninsula has been disconnected from the European electricity grid," the electricity transmission network (RTE) said in a statement.

On the scene, "more than 900 firefighters and rescuers are mobilized" and "152 drops (of water) have already been carried out", tweeted the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, expressing his "support for our fire soldiers ".

They "remain mobilized all night on the ground to fight against the flames", assured for its part the Civil Security.

A violent fire is currently striking the Aude.

On site, more than 900 firefighters and rescuers are mobilized.

152 drops have already been carried out.

Support for our firefighters.

pic.twitter.com/gq50cTm5YN

- Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) July 24, 2021

"The fire is difficult to counter, the working conditions are made difficult by the night", underlined the commander Jean-Michel Dubois, of the departmental operational center of fire and rescue (Codis) of the Aude.

"However, the wind drops and the humidity increases at night," conditions "more favorable to fight the fire", estimated the duty officer.

At the beginning of the night, the firefighters had established "a defensive action", delivering several vehicles on the road which connects Foncouverte to Fabrezan, while the fire threatened the town of Camplong-d'Aude.

"Two villages had to be protected"

The fire broke out early Saturday afternoon for an unknown reason on the central median of the A61 between the towns of Moux and Foncouverte. "The fire was very active until around 3 am", before "an attenuation in the first part of the night", described for Europe 1 Philippe Miramond, head of the forecast service at SDIS in Aude. "However, this morning, the left front flank of the fire, in the town of Foncouverte, is still active in several places."

In total, "800 hectares were burned and two villages had to be protected", he continues: the communes of Foncouverte and Fabrezan.

"In Foncouverte, at the most active of the fire, 120 people had been gathered at the level of the multipurpose room and we carried out 20 house protections in the village", adds Philippe Miramond.

These people have since been able to return home, and the prefecture indicated at the end of the afternoon that the situation was "stabilized" in Foncouverte.

In addition, car traffic was reestablished on the A61 at around 7 p.m.

An ongoing investigation

The device engaged on this operation, which included 500 firefighters from Aude and neighboring departments on Saturday afternoon, was to rise overnight to 800, with personnel from all over the south of France, in particular columns from Hérault. , Bouches-du-Rhône, Drôme, Vaucluse, Lozère, Auvergne and the South-West, again indicated the Codis 11. Seven Canadair, two Dash-type water bombers and a helicopter Super Puma supported the means on the ground until nightfall.

For the moment, we do not yet know the origins of the fire.

"An investigation is still ongoing," recalls Philippe Miramond. 

Power cuts in thousands of homes

At around 4.30 p.m. RTE shut down the very high voltage power line between Perpignan and the west of Narbonne at around 4.30 p.m. The flow of electricity then transferred to the lines in the western Pyrenees, creating an overload. which caused power cuts for 88,000 homes around Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales) and 19,000 homes around Biarritz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques). "2,350 MW of electricity have been cut in Spain and around 1,000 MW in Portugal," said the manager of high voltage networks in his press release. All the networks were reestablished around 5:30 p.m.